Blindness of Insight: Essays on Caste in Modern India

by Dilip M. Menon

Is communalism a deflection of the violence and inegalitarianism within Hindu society? How has the deployment of violence against an internal Other, the dalit, come to be transformed into aggression against an external Other, the Muslim? Does the dalit have the right to life in modern India? Exploring the intimate relation between the discourses of caste, secularism and communalism, Dilip Menon argues that communalism in India may well be the return of the repressed histories of caste. In four essays that position caste as the central faultline of modern India, Menon finds out why the use of marxism and its concepts was idiosyncratic at best and instrumental at worst for a brahmin like E.M.S. Namboodiripad; how the subordinated castes in the late nineteenth century wrote themselves into modernity using the Malayalam novel and Christianity; and why the use of violence in the maintenance of caste hierarchy remains the central occluded fact of Indian society: so present, yet so invisible.

Genres: Nonfiction, India, History

189 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2006

Reviews

[Vaidya · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are 4 essays here. The blurb talks about how Menon looks at how caste oppression and communalism go together. That is only one essay and the shortest one.

The rest are critical analysis of Malayalam novels and works and how they deal or not deal with caste. While they might be interesting to a reader who's interested in a critique of Malayalam literature the blurb is very misleading about the book in general.

[Emilie]

These are academic essays, and I have so little knowledge of the context that I was just skimming along the surface. But it gave me glimpses into Keralan history, literature and politics which I found fascinating, for all my limited understanding.

[Rahul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a heads up, this book is meant for academic purposes only, i didn't know that before i started reading 😁

[Radhika · Rating 3 out of 5]

another important read.